are they divided by sex, meaning all-female high schools and all-male high school? What are the students lives like outside of school?
Japan - 4 Answers
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1 :
Most schools are co-education, males go to schools with females. There are some schools (like in most other countries in the world) where there are separated. But the vast majority are co-educational. Elementary school through Junior High School is mandatory. Senior High School is not mandatory, but over 95% of students voluntarily go to Senior High School. Outside of school is study, study, and more study to pass entrance examinations to high schools and universities. Along with study, participating in clubs is usually a must. Japan is a group society so being part of a group is important to many students.
2 :
It all depends where students/parents choose to go. Most private schools are gender specific but for the most part, public and private schools are co-eds... Student life is the same as in the US, except they do spend more time in school (in number of days and hours). typical students hang out with friends in shopping stores/bookstores/movie theaters/ cafes/ramen shops, train station (to meet), etc. There seems to be more activities for high school students in cities like Tokyo than in your typical US cities (except NY and LA).
3 :
There are some all-boys and all-girls schools in Japan. And there are also some co-ed. Private schools are more likely to be all-boys or girls. >What are the students lives like outside of school? Many of them are engaged in clubs after school. Some of them work. Some of them go go cram schools to study for college entrance exams.
4 :
Public schools are co-ed in Japan, so no, they are not divided by sex. In Japan, they have swimming lessons for PE during the summer (or at least where I attended...it was in the Southern part of the country). They have PE uniforms (which must have their name written largely on them). Also, they have requirements for swimming suits. Girls' suits must usually be a navy one-piece and boys' suits must usually be navy trunks. Obviously, they change in different places. Usually, classrooms are designated as boys' or girls' changing rooms. (For example, Class A would be a girls' but Class B would be a boys') They have a "Home" class (I don't know how to translate it), where people learn sewing, cooking, etc. in elementary school upper grades. From elementary school upper grades through high school, there are after school clubs (95% of them are sports although most schools have a band). They're called Bukatsu, and you practice everyday for like three hours (and sometimes Saturdays too). They're very serious about Bukatsu, especially starting from middle school. Most schools require you to wear a special type of shoe, called Uwabaki, inside the school buildings, hallways, etc. This is to help keep the school clean. Right when you enter a school, there is a large room full of box-type shelves with labels for each student to put their dirty, outside shoes in and take out their Uwabaki to wear. This is probably because students in Japan clean the school themselves (no janitor). There are 15-20 minutes dedicated each day. About half of a class cleans the classroom, some clean sections of the schoolyard, some do hallways, some do bathrooms, etc. They rotate. They use moist rags to wipe along the floors (all wooden) for classroom and hallway duty. Yard work people just pick weeds and stuff. I don't know what the bathroom people do, other than change the toilet paper. Also, most middle and high schools have a school uniform. And at least in elementary and middle, and probably most high schools, you are not allowed to wear any make up or dye your hair. Ever. Also, from middle school and up, girls' hair must be cut shorter than shoulder-length. If it is longer or at shoulder-length, it must be tied back. Also, the school lunches are really good. They have a nutritional expert person who creates recipes that are both tasteful and have good nutrition balance, unlike in the US where we have pizza everyday. You eat in your classroom, not in a huge cafeteria. There are lunch duty (this rotates too) people who go down to the kitchen and bring the food to the classroom. At most schools, you must walk home (or bike home if you're middle/high school and you live far away. they don't allow elementary schoolers or people who live close to the school to bike). In elementary school, you are assigned a group to walk to school with, organized by where you live (people in the same neighborhood are in the same group). The group walks in a line to/from school, and the two oldest students in the group stand in the very front and very back to watch the little kids. Elementary through middle school is mandatory and free. High school, on the other hand, is not, although most people do go to high school. You need to take an exam to get in to high school. Also, there are exams for elementary and middle private schools. They are considered more difficult than the public ones. Outside of school, students like to hang out at malls, people's houses, book stores (especially for the manga), little cafes / coffee shops, or just bike around. On weekends, I've had friends who occasionally go eat at McDonald's for a treat haha :)
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